"…Grandma?"
Blinding lights seeped into the cracks of my eyelids, causing me to squint and wince as I covered my eyes with my hand.
Where am I?
I felt my back against a cold hard floor.
Slowly sitting up, I realised my legs, which were previously crushed and torn apart, were now perfectly fine and reattached to my torso, as if it has never been broken apart by that brick.
Not just that, but all the wounds I had suffered from were all gone, as if I had never gotten them in the first place.
Almost as if… it was all a nasty, horrible nightmare.
Or was it?
It was, most definitely, not my room.
The area that I was in stretched far and wide, with a ceiling of a glittering canvas of stars. It was a giant hall, seemingly able to fit anything that was put inside. It feels unreal.
What even is this place?
I recollected my thoughts.
Okay, so I supposedly died just now. Could it have been a dream, after all? But it felt so real – the feeling of death.
After dying, I suddenly got sent here, in a huge room.
Wait.
I felt I was forgetting something.
What did I see before I died?
My memory flashed to the dark feeling I felt moments before my death. It was a sudden spark of light with a ring of a bell. A bunch of words encased in a digital box. If my guess was right, then…
I opened my mouth.
"System notifications."
An eerie, yet familiar window popped in front of me.
[Opening notifications window. Would you like to view your notifications?]
Why did this appear in front of me before my death?
But most prominently…
It reminded me a lot of those fantasy novels where the protagonist has a levelling system that only they can see, like this one.
Could this world be… a fantasy world I got isekaied into?
It would make sense, since a lot of those types of protagonists would suddenly have the most overpowered abilities upon entering a fictional world, then they would defeat the villains, and become the hero. A classic trope.
Then, do I have any skills or abilities of my own?
I hesitated for a moment, before muttering aloud.
"Open Status Window."
It took a while, but the window I expected popped up.
…
Name: Yoon Eunari
Age: 28
Species: Human
Gateway: -
Personal Exclusive Skills: -
Gateway Exclusive Skills: -
Earned Skills: -
Current Status: Normal (No Status Effects)
Stats Level:
[Strength Lvl.1]
[Agility Lvl.1]
[Stamina Lvl.1]
[Durability Lvl.1]
[Magic Aptitude Lvl.0]
…
Honestly, I was a bit disappointed. I was expecting at least a skill that I can use, just like in a video game. Not to mention my stats were embarrassingly low, and definitely not one may find 'overpowered'.
But weren't there some novels where the protagonist started off as a weakling to be looked down upon before becoming insanely strong?
I squinted at the window, pushing the thoughts to the back of my mind.
'Gateway'.
What even is that? Is that a skill of some sort? All of the other skills looked pretty normal, for a fictional world. But this word in particular stood out.
Maybe it will be revealed to me in the future.
Strange. It is also in English for me to read. Does it already know the language I am most familiar with?
But then again, it's either the protagonist who finds out how to use this system, or someone tells him how to use it.
It was probably the latter, since it seems like I could not do anything at this point.
So many questions in my head. So many left unanswered.
As soon as I was about to spiral into my world of theories of how I got here, a notification bell rang out, startling me for a moment.
Ding!
[All Survivors have reached the lobby. All Survivors' presence will be unveiled now.]
[All Survivors will be granted the skill [Polyglot] for interracial communication.]
[You have obtained the skill [Polyglot]!]
Immediately, a bright flash of light erupted in the hall with a multitude of surprised gasps and sounds.
So, it seems like I wasn't the only one who came here.
I was instantly surrounded by people of various heights and races, carrying puzzled and astonished expressions as the stars on the ceiling glinted brightly.
They were people who were selected by the system, just like me.
At that moment, a faint light of hope shone within me.
Maybe Grandma is somewhere among all of these people here.
Hurriedly, I stood up, barely reaching the nearest people's shoulder length. That was when I realised the sheer number of people who arrived here.
It was surprisingly crowded in this giant hall as the noise grew in loudness, pouring and filling the hall.
I came to a realisation.
It would be a complete waste of time to search for her among all these people. It was literally trying to find a needle in a haystack, as the number of people here was in the thousands. It would be extremely difficult, if not, impossible. There was still a chance that she wasn't sent here, but I chose not to think about that. Think about the unfortunate possibilities.
Because I still had to find her, to let her know I was alright. Maybe, just maybe, I was lucky enough to cross paths with her here.
I took a step forward, squeezing through the incredibly dense obstacles of the arms of people. Grunts of annoyance and dirty looks were shown towards me. But I ignored them, continuing to push forward.
"Oops, sorry."
"Excuse me, I apologise."
"May you kindly give way, please?"
I continued to scan the area, hoping that I would come across the white-haired old lady that I knew too well, but to no avail.
"Hey, watch where you are going, bastard!"
I turned to the sound of the voice. There stood a lean muscular man of intimidating height, towering over me. He had long silvery bangs that fell over the sides of his chiseled jawline, wearing a brilliant white hoodie that immediately caught my eye. Very flashy.
His eyes looked over me once. A frightening smile creaked across his face, his eyes taken over with greed.
"A woman, huh? And a pretty one, too. Why don't you come along with me?"
I felt disgusted. Can't believe I came across a pervert.
Turning around, I walked the other direction, only for his hand to grasp my wrist and stopping me in my tracks. I pulled in vain.
"Now, where are you heading off to, miss? You looking for something?"
His smirk gave me a sense of unease. The other people around him backed off as they tried not to get involved, with looks of pity in their eyes as they looked at my direction.
His other hand reached out to grasp my chin with his fingers, surveying my face as I struggled to get free from his hold. He instead pulled me closer, taking advantage of my feeble strength.
"Let go of me. Or else."
He laughed.
"Or else what? You can't even fight back. Might as well use your half-assed body to serve me instead."
I gritted my teeth. I must get out of here, quickly. Before this weirdo loses his mind.
That was when I noticed a gold chain wrapped snugly around his neck.
Can this pervert get anymore disgusting?
In one swift motion, I took my other free hand to yank the chain, pushing him to the side as he loosened his grip, allowing me to break free. He choked and coughed, his neck reddening from the attack, stumbling as he rubbed the injured area.
"You bitch. Get back here!"
I tripped and fell, but managed to scramble back onto my feet as the crowd parted to make way for me while I ran, slipping into the gaps of the people.
I looked back. He was there, grabbing the heads of the people blocking his way and shoving them aside. My heart beat a tad bit faster.
That was when a voice filled the hall, silencing everyone.
| "Hmm, it seems like some 'evil' is already happening now, even before the hundred challenges."|
I paused in my tracks and looked up.
A pale white figure descended down from the starry ceiling that parted open to darkness. His torn, bony black wings that extended from his back flapped as he reached the ground, with the people nearby quickly parting to give him a wide open area. His void-filled eyes stared straight at me, neither having any kindness nor menace in them.
That was when a blood-curdling scream rang out.
"Aah! M-monster!"
That figure's looks indeed looked like a monster. And much frightening than anything I had seen before.
Nervous murmurs echoed throughout the whole place.
| "Humans, not to worry. I'm not here to kill you all. At least not yet." |
That did nothing to ease the atmosphere of fear. But at least the statement silenced everyone from making noise. Except for one fool.
"Get back here, you asshole!"
| "Silence."|
With a flick of his wrist, the figure let out an ominous energy that seemed to crush me and everyone else, making me feel nauseated under the pressure. But he wasn't targeting us.
The silver-haired pervert crashed straight into the ground face-first, with maroon-hued energy wrapping around him and holding him in place. As the figure's finger angled downwards, the ground cracked against the pervert's face, knocking him out as blood seeped into the floor.
[The host, "Dark-winged Raven, Thanatos" has used Crowd-Control skill, [Suppression Lvl.MAX] on the human "Ronan"!]
So the figure's name is Thanatos, while the pervert's name is Ronan.
The system said that Thanatos was a "host". Does that mean we are his guests? And what does he mean by the hundred challenges?
Thanatos seemed to not only notice the fearful faces of the humans around him, but their even more puzzled faces as they also received the notification that flashed in front of them.
He cleared his throat, lifting himself higher with his wings.
| "Apologies. It is unbecoming of me to not introduce myself and explain the situation. My name is the Dark-winged Raven, Thanatos. I'm here today as your host for this event. Before I explain the rules, do any of you have questions?"|
There was silence at first, but a meek-sounding voice rang out from the crowd. Very brave of whoever it was.
"Um, if I may ask, what happened to our planet Earth?"
Small chatter filled the air.
A smile creeped up on Thanatos' expression. He snapped his fingers, and a huge holographic panel spanning the whole hall appeared behind him.
[The host, "Dark-winged Raven, Thanatos" has used skill, [Holographic Projection Lvl.MAX]!]
Gasps filled the whole hall. My mouth was also agape, seeing the sights in front of me.
Flames of molten rock seeped through the cracks of a charred, unrecognisable planet on a starry background. A long greyed pillar stood upright on the surface, carving a huge crater beneath it.
That can't be Earth, surely?
Thanatos seemed to enjoy our expressions that were mixed with confusion and disbelief.
He flapped his wings upwards, taking in the sights of everyone around him, voicing out the thought that we did not want to admit but was in our minds.
| "Earth is gone." |